WIST Quotations

Levin, Bernard -- The Pendulum Years: Britain and the Sixties, ch. 4 (1970)

Dave — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:01:52 +0000

In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way as when they are about to abandon it, so that fanaticism and intolerance reach their most intense forms just before tolerance and mutual acceptance come to be the natural order of things.

Bernard Levin (1928-2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
The Pendulum Years: Britain and the Sixties, ch. 4 (1970)

Levin, Bernard -- Essay (1978-05-03), The Times, London

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Countries like ours are full of people who have all the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it, however much contentment they place between it and their own consciousness, it aches.

Bernard Levin (1928-2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
Essay (1978-05-03), The Times, London
(Source)

Remarking on a crowd of 90,000 at the "Festival of Mind and Body," in London. Collected in Taking Sides (1979).

See Thoreau.

Levin, Bernard -- Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London

Dave — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:33:14 +0000

Almost all of us want to be richer than we are, even if we are very rich indeed. To be sure, there are exceptions; saints, ascetics, those who travel light and will not add even the weight of a wallet, a few whose material ambitions are fully satisfied and who therefore truly want nothing further. But the rest of us want more than we have, and the specially thoughtful sometimes wonder whether there could ever come a time when we didn’t.
The crucial question, though, leaving out of consideration the exempted categories, is: what are we willing to do to increase our wealth?

Bernard Levin (1928-2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London

Collected in Now Read On (1980).

Levin, Bernard -- Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:50:21 +0000

You don’t need to be a genius or a sage to realise — realise, not know, let alone work out — that there is no easy path to great wealth (or to anything useful) because if there were, the poor would be in a very small minority, and everybody else would be stinking rich.

Bernard Levin (1928-2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London
(Source)

Collected in Now Read On (1980).